Dog here? Doggone cool.

It's been about two weeks and lots has changed here at the ranch.

We've become Dog People.
We acquired a pound hound Wire Haired Terrier who we've designated as Riley. An 18lb dog who seems to be liking us - and is being liked in turn by us. He's the standard coloring for the breed, off white base, brown face and grey saddle across his back.

Now if we can just get his "personal habits" on schedule everything will be perfect.

A Class Act. Really. No Kidding

After railing about a few things I don't like, how about a positive note?

Send your kid to hockey school. Or at least let them associate with the PIHL. Even if they don't play hockey, they could sharpen skates or something.
As I'm one to complain about little things at the sporting events I am assigned to cover - parking, access, concession prices and workspace come to mind - I'm here to tell you that the PIHL does things right. I covered a playoff semifinal game last night, and the league did their absolute best to make things happen.

To wit:
Rosters at the front gate - without asking
Workspace - without asking
Game stats soon after the conclusion of a contest - without asking
A cordial welcome to the hospitality room - without asking, where the food was GOOD.

And in general, nightly faxes with results of that day,
A web site with accurate stats, contacts and rosters.

An operation to use as an example of Well Run.

So there. I do like something.

The Right end of the dial

As I drive around, I frequently spin the radio up to the top of the dial. Here in Western Pa that's where the best comedy lives.

Jim Quinn and his trusty sidekick Rose the Indignant Warrior, shilling guns, gold and real estate schemes.

Glenn Beck - Who knows if he makes any sense, but at least he's not as loud as the rest.

Rush - The Grand Poobhah holding court. I think I liked him better when he was Jeff Christy, before he started shilling gold and real estate

Sean Hannity - A Really Popular American, and has an sudience that likes to remind him

Michael "My Real Name Isn't" Savage - What is this guy's story? He just doesn't seem to be FOR anything. Hours of railing about how he knows best, but no real content. Kind of like Wonder Bread - shot full of air to look like something in the bag.

Jerry Davis - seems like a bookend, taking up space till

George Noory comes on. An actual Space Case. UFO's, ghosts, anything paranormal or just weird goes here...


THIS JUST IN: THE STATION AT THE TOP OF THE DIAL IS NOW SHILLING A "WELLNESS WAVE" - SOMEONE COLLECTING CASH TO BEAM POSIIVE VIBRATIONS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. IS THER NO SHAME?

I hear the Clarion call

I have no idea where the pharase clarion call comes from, but today the clarion called and I followed. To Clarion of course. Another brilliant example of form triumphing over function.
Someone in the PIAA - the Even Bigger Cheese of Pennsylvania athletic organizations - decided that in anticipation of Bad Weather, two of their districts should take the night off from basketball playoffs. That would be D2 and D4, essentially the Northeast corner of the Commonwealth. All well and good - let's keep the kiddies out of harm's way by denying Mother nature access.

But, as the man said, what about us?

Nobody in Camp Hill seemed willing to look over the mountains and take notice of the weather arriving in the left end of the state. Let the games begin! Or at least let them go on.

The away team from the game I covered tonight took 7.5 hours on a charter coach to transverse 80 miles from home to the game site. Apparently the only reason they finally got there was one of the team dads pushed the bus uphill with his Suburban.

My Big Question - Shouldn't someone have the authority to say no?

As a sidebar, another team from closer to home chose to take a forefeit rather than put their kids ar risk. Go Catholics!

Digging out of the pit, or see below

A few thoughts about the swimming championship rant below

• The WPIAL has no options regarding venue. Nobody knows of another pool with anywhere near the seating capacity of Trees Pool at Pitt, so Oakland it is.
• Parking is limited, no matter when the event happens. You're in the big city, so deal with it.

What then?

• Hold the event on Saturday. A single day, race until it's over meet. Abandon the 2-day schedule. Alternate morning and afternoon sessions annually so the AAA and AA boosters, coaches, schools and families have one less thing to complain about. Every other sport seems to have playoffs on weekends, so why is swimming excempt?

• By holding a one day meet, on a weekend, parking MAY get beter. The Pitt students aren't going away, but the hospitals should see less demand for employee parking on Saturday. Perhaps an optimistic viewpoint, but this is a rant isn't it?

• Can anyone do anything about the concession prices? Probably not. Someone has decided that $3.50 for a Pepsi, $3.00 for a hot dog, and $3.00 for a candy bar are normal enough. Prices at the airport are lower, by far....

• The WiFi complaint only deals with digital workflow. If I have to drive back, I'm losing time that I could be spending doing other work.

• As matter of common courtesy, if you offer your committee free food, let them eat in a private room. If I've gotta pay a small fortune for food, I consider it bad form to flaunt the freebies. And by the way, give the offficials acccess to the food. A hungry ref is a grumpy ref...

Pitt. or The Pits

Some aspects of a person's life just can't be altered.
As we grow old our joints will stiffen, and we'll sit on the porch waiting for the end like a potted plant. But before that, we work. In my case that frequently involves attending sporting events at high schools and some of the colleges in Western Pa. It can be a decent day, or it can be a drag depending on the time of day the event starts, day of the week, season of the year, of most tellingly the organization in charge. The WPIAL - the Big Cheese of sanctioning bodies in Western Pa - has got to be a typical organization, but consistently produces events in the in what seems to be a lowest bidder mode.

Today and tomorrow are the local swimming championships. Hooray - the WPIAL holds these at Trees pool on the Pitt campus. The biggest problem with this event is this: there just isn't anywhere else to hold it, and nobody in a position of authority seems to care.

This thing is just wrong in every way.

•Parking is expensive - if you can find a space - as you're competing with a 30k student population, half a dozen busy hospitals, and an urban campus.
•Everything is uphill. Not just a hill but a 5 story climb to the pool from anywhere in the neighborhood.
•The media work area is a pair of folding tables and two rather decent chairs.
•WiFi in the pool is password protected. God forbid anyone in the area know the password or know who would.
•Hungry? Bend over and spread 'em. $3.50 for a Pepsi in a bottle. $3 for a dog. I was ready to use my "Usually when I get screwed, I get a kiss" line, but the counter help looked as if they were only Minimum Wage Slaves with less control than anyone.
•Agoraphobic? Contemplate this. At the afternoon session there were 54 swim teams participating. if they AVERAGE 10 members, that's 540 kids plus coaches all crowded around the pool. Loads of room to work.

sheesh

Which came first?

Off to HS wrestling today and tomorrow. The question pertains to the site and it's nickname. Canon-McMillan HS, home of the Big Macs. Why would anyone want a school ID that reflects the name of a bad hamburger?

So, which came first?

One little thing that drives me up a wall

"Cute" e-mails You know - the Men are Pond Scum, pray for me and pass it on, collect holiday cards for Bobby, and the like. BUT particularly the men are scum sort. I'd really like to know what motivates writers to pass along email that doesn't even rise to the level of stereotype.If I write something along the lines of "Why are women always comparing their shortcomings to Men" would I be a pig?

Random Pets

So every entry isn't a big deal. Just thoughts, without a significant purpose. After all, I'm not asking $3 million for my collection of music.. Trying to add a decent title to the entry gets interesting. As a result the combo-title for today.

Housekeeping

Nothing exciting. Just a few random thoughts. Sam'sClub gas isn't any less expensive than the brand name product - today - but the rest of the store can be - if you look carefuly. Food is up, gas is up, ad rates are up, and I'm not making any more $$. Oh well, should have paid more attention in Rocket Science class

Pet Peeves and such

TV news bother me on several levels. Leaving the near complete lack of content alone, the seemingly universal mispronunciation of the word that describes the amount of heat in the atmosphere drive me up a bloody wall. It's a four sylable word folks. Temp-er-a-ture. Not temp-a-ture. Let's all pronounce it at home.... Temp-er-a-ture.

They really are a couple of freaks....

Catching a good line on TV sometimes inspires a thought. Now all I need to do is compile a list of freaks. They are out there, waiting to be selected.

Tax time, or Oh joy

Why , when tax time rolls around do I feel like hummng. It alternates - sometimes it's Follow the Yellow Brick Road, others Hi Ho, Hi Ho. In either instance, it's time to visit Accountant Joe and deliver the raw data.

Or perhaps the Average Outdoor Store

Just back from the trip to REI. Before you spend the time, they don't stock the Cozy Creek line in their stores. At least not in their 25,000 or so sq foot emporium in Pittsburgh. Not one example of the brand.
So I brought home a knockoff. It looks decent - better than the WallyMart version that I had - and has an extendo-bottom that essentially provides double butt padding.
Oh well. I'm resigned to live with it and the smiling cashier who reminded me that:
a. In Seattle they stock everything.
b. I could order and have the item shipped to the store here at no charge for said shipping.
The I reminded her that:
c. I'd still not have seen an example of the product.
d. Spending another 2 hours of my time and paying for parking again wasn't such a good deal.
Then add this in:
Looking for sales help in the Post Christmas letdown was about impossible, and I imagine the market for ice axes is Pittsburgh is so large that keeping lesser items like camp chairs makes sense to someone.
Next time i'm in the Pacific Northwest I'll stop.

Shopping in the Great Outdoor Store

I need one of those folding camp chairs. Perhaps need isn't entirely accurate, but want isn't emphatic enough. In the next month or so, I'll spend a lot - perhaps a majority - of my days at work covering HS basketball playoffs. That means many hours sitting on gym floors watching the action close up. As the family will attest that Dad was born without a butt, I really appreciate having the padding that one of these chairs provides. So it will be off to REI to look for the Cozy Creek - or perhps as an homage to The Band - Cripple Creek line of chairware.

Learning to program a Lincon

Sooo,
The inlaws have a new car, named after the 16th President. What an amazing amount of technology Ford crammed into the dashboard, in addition to whatever is under the hood. I've now located and identified the mechanism to use 18 Sirius channels plus 12 FM and 6 AM frequencies, 6 CD's, a USB plugin for an iPod, Bluetooth for a phone, plus a combination of tone control features that digital technology adds. Sheesh, the sound is great. Now all I need to do is go for a ride and get to know Sirius.

DO NOT MAIL MATCHES!

So if that hed doesn't get you attention, nothing will. Except perhaps Free Beer Tomorrow! If you've read this far, please ignore the self esteem reference below. I have all the self esteem I can rationally use. Really. This does, however illustrate the inability of the written word to effectively convey tone of voice. In this case, slight sarcasm. I assure you all I am mentally healthy.

Greetings Sportsshooters

If anyone wanders over from SportsShooter would you consider leaving a comment? It would significantly help my low self esteem issues...

Time to be daywalker

After three weeks in the dark, it's time to work daylight again. Time to see how most of the world works and reconnect with civilization.

I'm tired of basketball already.

Three weeks or so left in the regular basketball season and I'm going to go see teams from the same school for the 4th time in 5 working days. Whoopee. The challenge for the teams is to win. The challenge for me is to try and find a new look every day. If I start pulling my hair out now, I should be done by Christmas.